Dust Devils
by Floppster
Summary: In the ruins of a world once dominated by mammals, one rabbit sets out to explore this vast world dominated by new creatures that would love to get a bite of her. Judy has seen many different ecosystems that this new world has to offer and her journey had finally lead her to the ruins of Zootopia! What happenes when Judy enters the old ruins of Zootopia? (A oneshot for now)
1. The Silver Storm

Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Disney ,least of all Zootopia (yet)

* * *

 **Somewhere in the ruins of Zootopia**

The dust that was kicked up by the storm made it really hard to breathe but Judy just tightened the rag over her muzzle and pushed on regardless.

She knew that the creatures that were following her would not be stopped by this, they had adapted to this environment ages ago. This left her, a normal rabbit with a huge disadvantage.

She rounded the corner of what seemed to be a structure of the ones that came before. A mix of rusted steel and stone that would stretch into the sky like the remnants from the corpse of a giant being that had died eons ago. She always wondered what life was like in the old world that had gone before them, that was one of the reason why she had set out on her adventure to explore this vast world that never seemed to end.

And in moments like these she felt like this had been a really bad decision.

She pushed on trough the rubble and every fiber of her body screamed in pain as her lungs demanded oxygen that seemed nowhere to be found.

Curse the damn silver dust.

And curse these damn Roughskins, even now she could hear the clicking sound of their claws on the stone beneath the dust and sand. She knew that she would not be able to escape at this rate, unless she did something drastic!

She knew that her bow was not enough to damage the thick skin of her adversaries and she knew that even if it was. That there was no way that she could fight all of them in this dust storm.

So, she delved deeper into the ruins.

She reached a clearing that seemed to lay inside one of the structures of old.

It was like a weird cave, it was huge in proportions and it had a rib cage like structure made of steel and thick glass at its top that was not entirely intact but intact enough to hold of most of the dust and wind. The visibility was far better here and her lungs thanked her for the air that was stale,yes but much better than the air outside that was mostly silver dust.

The moment that she stood there and regained her bearings though was valuable time that her pursuers used to close the distance.

Her ears warned her in the last second and she managed to drop herself flat into the dust below while one of the creatures clawed the air ,where she had been standing a moment before, mid jump before it landed in front of her while it's claws that dug into the stone beneath the dust brought it to a screeching halt. The sound was awful to listen to for Judy, but she had other things to worry about, mainly the other two creatures that still stood behind her.

She glanced around, and it was now that she finally got a real look at her pursuers.  
They were really different from the creatures that were found in the marshlands where she came from or from the creatures of the jungle that she had passed to get here. They were huge compared to her and she wondered if to them she would even be worth the energy that they had wasted in order to catch her. These big six legged creatures had a weird leathery skin that with its silver tan color mix that made them blend into the ruins really well. They had a very long body that ended into a long thin tail that always snaked around behind them ominously. They moved close to the ground as they surrounded Judy, mostly with their four strong hind legs while their front 'arms' could be brought up to attack while running. They also had a comb like structure on their back they could flatten down while running or raise up to appear more threatening while in combat.

They were currently doing the latter and Judy had to give them credit, they were god damn terrifying.

But their size was not the only intimidating thing about them as far as Judy was concerned. They also had no visible eyes as far as she could tell but they stuck out their split tongues annoyingly often from their V shaped mouths that were filled with two rows of razor sharp teeth at the bottom and at the top.

Judy knew that she was basically screwed, and she scanned her surrounding for an exit while the creatures circled around her.

From the corner of her eyes she spotted a stair like opening that lead into the ground below the ruin, deeper into the bowls of the structures of old.

It could be a dead end or there could be something much worse than these creatures lurking down there, but she knew that if she did not make a decision and if she did not make it fast then she would die anyways. And in the storm outside she would not be able to survive, her only chance was to find a hole big enough for her to hide in but small enough so that these Roughskins would not be able to follow her.

Just as she decided that going underground was her best option it seemed that one of the creatures had arrived a conclusion as well. That conclusion being that Judy was not going anywhere and that it was time to strike. It made a weird clicking noise while bloating its throat and spit some purple substance Judy's way while another one of the Roughskins made a similar clicking noise before its jumped in to attack. Judy barely dodged the charging creature while some of the purple substance ended up on her right arm. She ignored this though and made a run for the stairs, the tunnel before her was dark but she could not go back anymore, and she climbed down as fast as she could.

Darkness surrounded her and, but she ran. There were objects in her way some of which she collided with and suddenly after running for about five minutes she hit a metal wall nose first and fell down.

Panic arose in her, she could hear the clicking sounds getting closer and closer. She wanted to get up, but her legs would not move anymore. Most of her body would not move at all. And she could not feel right arm whatsoever.

Fear paralyzed her when she realized that the creatures had caught up with her and that she could now feel their breath on her fur.

She knew that she had messed up and she started crying.

She waited for the pain.

But instead of pain there was a weird noise that rapidly repeated. A noise that was like arrows being fired rapidly but much louder and much stranger. Much less imperfect.

And the breath of the creature on her fur ended abruptly when it fell to the ground while screeching in pain.

Before it stopped screeching all together.

What had happened?

Was there someone out there?

She wanted to call out, but she couldn't.

Suddenly a sharp light illuminated the room before her, a flashlight.

She could now see the three dead Roughskins as they were sprawled out in the cave like structure around her, covered in blood from wounds that were scattered all over their bodies. She could also see the metal wall she had hit before. It seemed to be a little house on wheels deep underground or that was what the shape seemed to tell anyways.

It was at this moment she saw another light coming from a different angle and this one was coming closer.

The closer it came the more it blinded her with its intensity, she wanted to raise her paw to shield her eyes but no muscle in her body seemed to be willing to obey her orders.

The light was now really close, and she was able to make out the outline of a mammal that was bigger than her. Then she heard a voice that could not belong to any mammal but only to a demon. It was deep and distorted,"Nick, you were right."

There was a pause and the other light came closer after the other creature had spoken.

This second creature though turned of it's light revealing a weird looking creature that was wearing weird clothes with many pouches and a big backpack. It's head was covered in a helmet that served as a metal mask which looked like a canine skull with glowing red eyes.

In it's paws it held a weird looking item that seemed to be a weapon of sorts, one she had never seen before.

Through it's clothing she could not even see a single patch of fur. And then it spoke, in the same deep distorted voice as it's comrade, "yeah seems like my prize is still alive."

Nick grabbed a syringe from his pocket and knelt down before her. Hope flared in her heart when she realized that the syringe was meant for her.

Maybe it would allow her to move once more?

Maybe she was saved?

Nick jabbed the syringe into her leg allowing her to read the words that were written onto a patch which was sewn into the fabric of his shoulder before she faded off into darkness and it read 'Dust Devil Raiders'.

* * *

Authors Note:

So I had writers block while writing my main story and I just made this in order to get the words flowing again.  
I know it is not great and I do not know whether or not I am ever going to make chapter two but I might.


	2. The Life of a Stalker

Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Disney, least of all Zootopia (yet)

* * *

 **Somewhere in the ruins of Zootopia**

The heat was almost unbearable in the depths of the old metro system of the city.  
Thanks to the ingenuity of the Fixers, or Tinkerers as they were known to most, it was almost impossible to navigate the eastern part of Zootopia's bowls.

This was due to the fact that these genius bastards had managed to reactivate the old generators inside of the climate wall which once surrounded the entire city.

Or so the stories about the city went at least.

And if the stories were to be believed then the excess heat from the generators had been used to warm up one of the famed environments of this now dead city.

The world had changed however, and this mechanism was no longer needed or applicable.

Ruins were all that was left, and the climate had changed drastically from the olden days.

Which left the tinkerers with few options as to how they could deal with the heat radiating from the marvelous machines of old.

And one stupid mammal seemed to have decided that venting the heat into the tunnels below was the best option available to them.

Much to the dismay of Nick and his comrade as they were stewing in their own juices right now because of this.

The bunny over his shoulder made things even worse for the exhausted fox.

But she was his catch and thus his burden to carry.

There was just no way around it for him.

Meanwhile, Leon was up ahead, and it seemed that he was almost struggling with the heat as much as Nick was himself.

His muscles ached, and he wanted to curse, but he saved his breath since it would do him no good.

If the tunnel they usually used instead hadn't collapsed somehow then they wouldn't even be in this precarious position now.

But such was the life of a stalker.

The city always found new ways to try and take their lives.

After what felt like an eternity they finally reached what seemed to be an old service elevator and came to a stop.

It was clear that it was leading down deeper into the bowls of the metro, but that also meant that it led down into cooler tunnels.

Leon and Nick looked at each other and without words a mutual understanding was reached immediately.

Fuck the top tunnels, even if this meant using an elevator which probably had not been moved for decades.

Leon moved towards the elevator and started tapping away at the panel next to it.

His actions were followed by a strained creaking sound from the elevator as the heavy metal doors were forced open by the machine.

If both of them hadn't been equipped with their helmets which had a build in noise cancelation for sounds over a certain threshold, then Leon at the very least would have popped one of his eardrums as the already deafening creaking turned into an even more obnoxious screeching.

Once the door had opened and he noise which could have probably been heard in the entire metro had stopped, it was time for them to move.

Leon pied the elevator before them with trained precision. By slowly moving in a half circle around the apex of the corner, revealing the room before him one bit at a time.

Just because it was old did not mean it could not house a terrible surprise for them.

Once he was done he nodded towards the elevator and Nick moved in while Leon kept and eye on the tunnel stretching off into the darkness around them.

The infernal noise they had made should have drawn in any creature that was willing to take a chance at hunting here.

And this meant they had to get out before something had the time to actually get here.

Once Nick was in, he hit the wall of the elevator twice with his fist and the audio signal told Leon that it was time for him to move into the elevator as well.

Once inside he pressed the button for the lowest level, maintenance level four.

And the old machine purred to life once more.

The doors struggled to close, but in the end, they still did.

The elevator began moving down slowly, making even more noise than before. If that was even possible.

And Nick began to wonder if this had been the right decision after all.

But once the elevator gained a little speed it made its way down rather silently.

At least as far as previous noise levels were considered.

Suddenly a shockwave went through the entire elevator and its passengers as it came to an abrupt halt.

Nick tumbled back against the wall behind him and would have almost dropped his bunny, while Leon slipped and fell flat on his muzzle.

A red light filled the elevator and a sudden thumping noise could be heard from below while the elevator shook slightly each time it was hit.

 **WOOM!**

 **WOOM!**

 **WOOM!**

"Nick what is that?" Came Leon's distorted voice over the coms and Nick could hear a tinge of panic in it.

Nick shook himself while the noise picked up in speed and intensity.

 **WOOM! WOOM!**

 **WOOM! WHOOM!**

"How the hell would I know!" Yelled Nick back with all the snark he could muster. "It's not like I build this thing you know."

The thumping noise let up at this very moment and it was eerily quiet in the old elevator.

So quiet in fact that Nick could hear the rabbit on his shoulder breathing.

He looked at Leon and Leon looked back at him.

Neither of them could see the others expression through their equipment.

But both of them knew that the other one was thinking the same.

What the hell was happening right now?

And then all hell broke loose when the elevator was hit once more, this time with enough force to send it upwards at least half a meter.

Both canines were forced off of their paws and for a brief moment they were tumbling in the air.

But the laws of physics demanded their tribute pretty soon as all that came up had to come down at some point.

And boy did the elevator come down!

With neck breaking speed, it crashed into something soft with a mix of cracking and splattering sounds which would have left any civilized mammal with nightmares shortly after.

But whatever poor creature had been below them did not even serve as so much as a cushion for their fall.

The old hunk of metal had decided that it wanted to reach the ground floor in record time…and so it did.

Only that the impact was different than expected.

It was rather soft for hitting concrete, but that still did not stop Nick, Leon and the rabbit from being thrown through the elevator like ragdolls.

If not for their protective gear, both predators would have fainted from the impact immediately.

But they were still conscious, even if they were so battered that neither of them could get back up on his paws.

A few seconds passed in which Nick managed to turn himself on his back and grab ahold of his left shoulder which had taken the brunt of the impact.

It hurt like hell.

And he knew that his comrade was not that much better off.

He had no time to whine though as another problem promptly presented itself to the shaken duo.

Nick could feel that his fur was wet…not wet from his sweating, but wet from something much more alarming.

He turned his head and surely enough he saw that a thin layer of water was now covering the floor of the elevator.

And it was raising steadily, water was coming in from every corner of the elevator.

Soon it even started to leak through the roof and door as well.

Leaving the shaken tod with a horrific realization.

They had not hit concrete at all…they hit water and sunken to the ground like a rock!

Nick felt panic well up in his chest.

This was going to be one of these days wasn't it?

* * *

Authors Note:

So I have writers block and cant get things done the way I want them too.

Which lead me to writing this...and deciding to make this a two part addition to this concept.


	3. The murky Waters below

Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Disney, least of all Zootopia (yet)

* * *

Water seemed to seep in from all directions while the two predators slowly recovered from their involuntary fall.

They both knew that they had to get themselves together quickly enough to get out of this mess they had found themselves in. But they also had to be careful not to overdo it and waste precious time while writhing in agony.

It was Leon who was the first of the two to be back on his paws.

"Come on Nick get up!" Yelled his comrade and his voice modulator was cutting out basically every two syllables. Thus, leaking his actual voice into the seemingly random pattern.

A normal mammal wouldn't even have noticed this, but Nick knew his partner too long to not notice his voice in the scrambled mess that was now his attempt to communicate with him.

Nick also realized that the helmet of his partner had taken significant damage since he could no longer pick up his com signal and his voice modulator was obviously broken.

This in turn made the concerned tod wonder whether Leon's head had taken any damage. It was definitely possible. And it was most definitely terrifying.

Their helmets were made of only god knew what exactly!  
Nick knew that it was an alloy of sorts mixed with something else and layers of other materials which protected not only his head but also the oh so important internal parts of the helmet itself.

It took a lot of force to break it, he had 'tested' it time and time again.

But Nick had no time to think about the possibly broken helmet as the water reached the hip of the still kneeling fox.

Which lead him to swivel his neck around in a panicked motion as he was searching for something he had only just now remembered existed.

The rabbit, his rabbit, was sprawled out in another corner of the elevator.

She looked battered and broken while her head was positioned just barely above the rising water level.

Leon followed Nick's stare and made his way over towards the bunny with some long, if strained strides. While his partner finally used his rifle as a crutch to lift himself up as well.

Only to be thrown from his paws once more when the elevator tilted violently into the direction of the corner which now held all of the water which had flown in, as well as a possibly drowning bunny and a very startled Leon who tried his best to keep himself upright.

Nick meanwhile realized that the center of gravity had been moved and decided to counter balance the two other mammals even a little bit.

He tried to crawl into the opposite corner of the elevator but with the floor being as wet and thus slippery as it consequentially proved to be, he slid down to meet the other two mammals at the new lowest point of the elevator.

And once more the elevator began to tilt dangerously into the unknown.

"We need to get out of here!" Yelled Nick more as an affirmation of his current thoughts rather than to actually contribute to the situation at paw.

At the same time, he fished for the rabbit which he knew was somewhere in the suspiciously murky water around him.

And low and behold, he actually found her and managed to pull her up by one of her legs.

Leon noticed that Nick had found the rabbit and helped him by grabbing her neck and bringing her head above the raising waterline.

"Is she still breathing?" Asked Nick in his still completely distorted voice.

Leon, who had pulled the bunny into his arms placed one paw over her muzzle and shook his head.  
A moment passed and Nick wondered if he had just lost his prize.

There was only a paw full of rabbits in the city itself. Which meant that they were expensive goods. Not to mention the fact that none of them were as pure breed as this one seemed to be. She was an exquisite toy, one he wasn't happy to lose.

Leon was meanwhile doing his best to reanimate the young doe while also not slipping too deep into the water below them.

They both knew that time was of the essence and that soon they would not be able to stand in this elevator anymore.

Which meant that they had to swim…which was basically impossible with how heavy their equipment was at the moment.

So, Nick gave a low growl and dropped his backpack into the water below. It contained most of his equipment, yes, but keeping his equipment would do him no good if he were to drown here because of it.

With that being said he had still more stuff he could afford to lose, mainly his helmet and his steel plated protective vest below his tactical vest.

And so, he began to open up the lashes which held his helmet in place while a really sharp inhale signaled that his rabbit was indeed breathing again.

Good job Leon, though Nick while he wiped the data on his helmet with the pad on his arm.

It only took twenty seconds to do it and it was a necessary precaution. But it still felt like an eternity to him.

Leon had meanwhile started to lose his own backpack and was struggling with the bunny in his arms.

A burden which Nick wordlessly took off of his partner when he was finished with his helmet himself.

The bunny was filthy from the water she had been submerged in and her fur was messy and cold to the point where she looked completely unrecognizable from the moment where he had caught her.

He pulled her to his chest with one arm while his other paw tried to open up the zipper of his tactical vest. Due to this her head came to rest on his shoulder and he could actually feel the young doe's breath against his throat.

It was a weird feeling, but he shook his confusion right away.

He managed to open his vest and was faced with another problem as he was not sure how to proceed while the rising water reminded him that he had basically no time left.

Leon had meanwhile removed his helmet and his vest and yelled over at Nick with a now completely undistorted voice.

"Catch!", before throwing his vest at his partner who caught it with his one free paw.

It took another few well practiced moves from Leon and he was free of his ballistic vest.

Nick grinned and threw his tac vest back as soon as the ballistic vest had disappeared into the water around them.

Leon naturally caught the vest with ease and put it on in record time before holding out his paws and demanding.

"Give me the bunny!"

Nick obliged and as soon as the bunny had left his arm he started slipping out of his tactical vest.

He didn't even bother handing it over to Leon as he wormed his way out of the now far too heavy ballistic vest.

Just as he was about to put on his vest Leon intervened.

"Wait!"

"What?" Asked Nick somewhat confused.

Time was of the essence and they had no time for games.

"Take the bunny on your back and secure her with the vest!" Yelled Leon back and Nick pondered about his idea for a moment.

It sounded crazy but practical.

And so, he turned his back towards his partner as fast as he could and slipped one of his arms into the vest.

There was a weird rumbling sound which could be heard from the outside of the elevator and the metal started creaking in a dangerous fashion.

They were out of time!

Nick could feel the bunny being draped on his back and her arms being thrown around his neck. He managed to barely fit his other arm through his vest when suddenly the elevator started tilting again.

This time it actually fell over to the side completely and once more the three mammals inside where thrown around like ragdolls.

Waves of water continued to move them around even after the elevator itself had come to a full stop and a weird gurgling sound could be heard from outside.

Nick managed to close his vest though in what could only be described as a mixture of pure dumb luck and an acrobatic display which was impressive to say the least.

All while occasionally managing to resurface to fill his lungs with some well needed air.

He had also completely lost sight of Leon who probably fared just as badly as he did.

After a few minutes, which seemed like an eternity to the struggling fox, two things were happening.

One, the air was running out and panic was starting to really set in because of this.

And two, the elevator started moving again!

In fact, it slowly started turning around its own axis and thus tumbled deeper into the unknown waters below.

Leaving Nick even more disoriented than before, if that was even possible.

Nick knew that basically all the air was exhausted and he had no idea what was up and down at this point.

But he knew that if nothing happened resembling a miracle then he would be screwed.

For a moment he cursed his own laziness and the fact that Leon had been just as stupid when they had decided to ride this god damn deathtrap.

It was a stupid mistake, one that he would likely never be allowed to do again.

Thanks to him drowning in this rusty, stupid, fucking tin can!  
As if to punctuate his thoughts the rusty, stupid, fucking tin can came to an abrupt halt when it hit another equally hard object.

What followed was the most chaotic thing Nick had ever witnessed.

He was thrown against a wall when the elevator stopped and the doors of the elevator were bent inwards by what seemed to be a huge rock. And while Nick couldn't see this he certainly felt and heard it.

Another thing which happened immediately after was that the elevator started to slowly slip once more.

Nick managed to get his bearings though and push himself in the direction of where the impact had come from as far as he could tell.

And he actually made it out of the elevator by slowly pulling himself through the hole that was now where the doors had once been.

Just as the elevator started to tumble deeper.

The water was still so muddy and full of algae and whatever else seemed to float around in there, that he couldn't even see his own paws.

He could feel that his lungs started burning as he was about to reach his limit after having been submerged for so long when he was lost control.

Naturally he had tried to swim upwards when he had exited the elevator.

Or at least he had tried to move into the direction that he thought was up as soon as the possibility had presented itself to him.

But as soon as he left the safety of the elevator he was faced with the cold hard truth that the water around him had other plans.

An impossibly strong current pushed and pulled on his body and before he knew it he rammed face first into the elevator he had just left.

And everything went dark.

* * *

Authors Note:

So one more chapter to go which is almost finished and then this will be put to rest again.

I should have that done by the middle of the week


	4. The Tunnel

Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Disney, least of all Zootopia (yet)

* * *

Air!

Nick was caught in a cold freezing hell and despite the fact that he tried his hardest to breathe…to fill his lungs with fresh air…his lungs continued burning.

Cold darkness and burning fire from within made him feel like he had never felt before.

His thoughts were dominated by one single desire, the desire to breathe.

But, no matter how much he tried, with each unsatisfying gasp for oxygen he felt like the burning sensation inside his lungs went worse and he felt utterly nauseous.

He had almost given up on trying when a pain in his chest was followed by a warm sensation embracing his nose causing his lungs to finally be filled with the so eagerly anticipated air.

What followed was a rough awakening.

Nick found himself lying on his side and heavily wheezing while he was coughing up water he had obviously swallowed.

Panic embraced him once more when he realized that once more his labored breaths were giving him barely enough oxygen to survive.

He rolled to sideways and could hear a muffled squeak while he propped himself up on his arms and opened his eyes.

What he saw was brilliant amethyst as the rabbit doe he had taken prisoner hours ago stared at him in a mix of fear and relief.

This view before him was so perplexing that he actually stopped breathing for a moment and a sudden kick to the gut from the lagomorph below made him cough up the remaining water.

Nick recovered quickly and was about to pummel the insolent flat tooth into submission when an unfamiliar female voice asked in a soft concerned tone.

"Are you okay now? Can you breathe?"

He stared at the rabbit who was eyeing him with the same mix of fear and concern from before.

An answer was already on his tongue when another coughing fit shook him hard.

Causing him to almost plunge muzzle first into the ground.

The ground below was made of rough dark stone which was covered by a thin layer of water which glistened in the soft blue light which filled the area around him.

Soft blue light?

His head snapped upwards and he mustered his surroundings for the first time.

The tunnel, if it could be called that at all, was wide enough for a rhino to fit through and reminded him more of a cave than of a mammal made structure.

It was rough and filled with jagged stones which broke through the water on the floor in chaotic intervals.

What was most fascinating was though was the fact that the walls and the ceiling were covered in small blue shining lights.

To any normal mammal they would have been weak and barely bright enough to see the entirety of the room.

But to a normally nocturnal predator like him they shone brilliantly like the stars on a clear night sky.

It was mesmerizing in its calm subtle beauty.

If anyone had told him that a place like this existed in the tunnels then he would have laughed in the face of said mammal, before shooting it for lying to him like that.

But here he was staring into the tunnel where the murky water reflected the soft shining light ever so slightly which made the room look like a tunnel of light to him.

Where did that tunnel go he wondered?

Where would he end up if he went through it.

Naturally he had to answer this question and so with strained movements he pushed himself up onto his paws and started staggering deeper down into the tunnel.

The rabbit was completely forgotten and Nick made his way deeper and deeper into the tunnel.

And he wondered how far he would have to go to find the end.

He was so caught up in his trance that he did not notice the rabbit's frantic attempts to follow him.

She even tried to call out to him but his thoughts drowned out any noise he could have heard.

Minutes passed and his ears were filled by a strange humming sound. Not only was it strange, it also became louder and louder as he continued to move forward.

Suddenly there was a loud squeak, accompanied by a rather alarming splashing sound.

Instinctively he turned around to find the same rabbit he had all but forgotten about, frantically paddling to keep afloat in what could have only been a really deep hole in the middle of the tunnel.

* * *

Judy found herself struggling to keep afloat as the cold from the water seemed to seep deeper into her bones.

Her wounded leg was slowly but surely giving out and it made keeping afloat that much harder.

Not to mention that her broken arm was anything but usable at the moment.

She could not help but instinctively squeal in panic as she was blinded by her instincts.

In her current state of mind, she barely even noticed how the fox before her turned around and looked at her.

Something brushed against her wounded leg and Judy knew that she had to get out!

But that was easier said than done.

Judy tried her best to pull herself out of the hole she had fallen into. But wherever she reached she only found water and slippery stones which her wet pad less paws could not hold onto.

So, there she was, centimeters away from solid ground and yet not able to reach it.

Hope flared up in her heart when she saw the fox stagger in her direction.

His movements were sluggish and dull somehow.

Like they had been the entire time she had been following him.

Something was not right, he had changed from the time he had woken up.

And just as her savior was about to arrive she saw something else in the dark.

She almost stopped struggling against the water for a moment when she saw what lurked behind the predator in the dimly lit tunnel…

Painted in the soft almost nonexistent light of the tunnel was a creature that would visit her in her nightmares if she'd manage to survive this.

It was taller than the fox by a significant margin and had something insect like about it.

Strong pincers adorned a small head with curly antennas made of a glistening material.

She could not identify any eyes, but the creature was covered in small fish like scales and its insect like head continued into a long and slender neck which snaked majestically through the darkness.

With every step that the fox took it followed and revealed more of its intimidating monstrosity.

The creature had a slender rump which was adored by six grasshopper like legs which ended in reptile like claws.

A long fish like back fin adorned its back, which just added to the weird creature's fish insect look.

She wanted to scream for the fox to turn but it was too late.

The creature stopped and readied for a pounce.

For one moment it everything was eerily still.

Then the head of the creature darted towards its prey and the strong pincers found nothing but air.

To her utter surprise there was no bloodbath.

But Judy had no time to figure out how the fox had dodged as she herself found herself in trouble.

Even more so than before.

While she was struggling to stay afloat she felt another presence in the water.

Whatever had brushed her was back!

And soon she felt a strong and slippery segmented body snake around her and pull her down into the depths of the water below.

What she saw underwater was even more terrifying then what she had seen above.

The hole connected the tunnel to a gigantic cave below which was filled with water and was glowing in the same weird blue hue as the tunnel.

Algae where floating in the water and making it harder to see, but she could see.

And what she saw was that the cave was stretching farther than the light allowed her to see.

Naturally though the progress of taking in her surroundings only took a split second before she saw her adversary.

A huge worm like centipede which was a wide as she was, but in length it surely measured at least ten meters if not more.

She almost squealed, which would have been fatal with her limited air supply.

This centipede was now moving its head dangerously close to hers. Allowing her to see an eel like mouth which looked like a suction cup filled with irregularly placed teeth.

It was horrifying to look at and with a mouth bigger than her head she was sure that the beast could provide her with a truly gruesome death.

But Judy would not give up that easily.

She struggled against the creatures' grip as much as she could but the aquatic predator would not budge.

Four pincers adorned the creatures' head and formed a sort of gripping mechanism to bring food closer to its mouth.

A gripping mechanism which was now hellbent on turning her into food.

As the creature tried to slowly pull her closer to her inevitable demise she devised a plan.

She grabbed two of the pincers and pushed the creatures head as far away as possible.

At least that was how she imagined things to go in her head, but the creature would not budge.

And so, she went with plan B.

* * *

Nick snapped from his trance when he saw the fear in the rabbit's eyes and realized that she was not staring at him.

Something was behind him, he knew.

He continued striding forwards and his senses confirmed that something was indeed behind him.

And whatever it was, it was stalking closer with every step he took.

When there suddenly was no movement at all he knew that an attack was about to come his way.

He dodged expertly and found himself confronted with a creature he had never seen before.

It was ugly, yes, but terrifying none the less.

And potentially dangerous.

Without thinking Nick reached for his pistol which was holstered on his right leg.

And as fast as he could he brought the weapon up and disabled the safety.

The creature was not stupid either and had started moving as well.

It started sprinting towards the prey which had so selfishly avoided its fate.

While sprinting it kept its slender body as close to the ground as possible and slithered around like a snake.

With its whole body moving like that it made for quite the hard target.

Not that the huge creature was a hard target to hit, but it made a well-placed shot naught to impossible.

A split second passed and Nick decided on his plan of action.

He fired twice before dropping on his back.

The two bullets missed the head of the creature barely and embedded themselves into the its side.

Nick had anticipated the creature's movements well though as it almost leaped upwards. Only to once more find air where he had been moments before.

With the creature now above him he opened fire once more.

Three more shots rang through the tunnel and three more bullets ripped into the creature, this time from below.

Causing green goo like blood to drop down into the water around Nick who now had a smug grin on his muzzle.

The creature itself hissed in agony and quickly dove into a part of the tunnel where the water was apparently deeper than elsewhere and disappeared from sight completely.

Despite his aching body Nick pulled himself onto his paws and slowly turned around his own axis to scan the tunnel.

He had to keep an eye on the entire tunnel.

If his guess was correct then the creature was trying to catch him of guard which meant that there was more than one place to pop out from.

For a moment he stopped scanning the space around him and his attention lingered on the place where the rabbit had been just moments ago.

* * *

Judy tried her best to reach for her knife which was still sitting securely under her chest plate. A hiding spot which had saved her life on numerous occasions.

Such as this one, or so she hoped.

Lucky for her the centipede worm seemed distracted by something and she was able to gain a little bit of time.

After fumbling around for a few seconds, she managed to get ahold of her knife.

Just in time as the creature had turned its attention back towards her.

Its head darted down towards her face and all that Judy could do was stretch out her knife with her still functional paw into the coming throat of her adversary.

The teeth pierced the skin of her arm and only by leaning back as far as possible she was able to avoid her that face suffered the same fate.

She prayed to the sacred stars that her knife attack would be enough to deter her enemy.

And indeed, the creature shook itself violently, almost crushing her in the process.

Judy was almost to late when pulling her arm out of the danger zone that was her enemies maw and consequently lost her knife in the depths of its throat.

Before she could even contemplate a way to take advantage of the new situation though something else entirely happened.

The creature she had seen before behind the fox was now in the water and her adversary seemed to notice as well.

The other creature was engulfed in a thick green cloud and the centipede like creature surprisingly decided to let go of her and go after what was apparently a slightly juicier target.

Judy would not question this though as she tried her best to move towards the surface.

Not a second to soon as her lungs were declaring that her underwater journey had taken longer than it should have.

Her muscles were aching and her lungs were burning.

But she could already see the surface.

She was so close!

However, it was not meant to be, she could feel how her muscles betrayed her.

She could no longer move an inch.

Which left her just another stroke away from the saving surface, the extended paw almost being able to break through the surface.

But soon she started sinking back into the depths, or so she would have if not for that auburn paw reaching out for her and pulling her out of the water and up into the tunnel.

* * *

Authors Note:

There we go!

Story finished.

Setup is done and one day I might return to continue it.  
At first I wanted to make the chapter a little longer and show what happens when they leave the tunnel.

But that can wait.  
And now, back onto my main stories (hopefully)


End file.
